This is meant to compete with Western Digital GP. Low noise/power = 5400RPM.

Yes, I've understood that but I wanna hear something about the 7200rpm models. A 7200 model with 500 GB per platter would give us another boost in performance. It's a +50% density so I hope I'll see at least +25% STR (so > 125 MB/s average read). And of course a price drop would be nice too.

Yes, I've understood that but I wanna hear something about the 7200rpm models. A 7200 model with 500 GB per platter would give us another boost in performance. It's a +50% density so I hope I'll see at least +25% STR (so > 125 MB/s average read). And of course a price drop would be nice too.

Hm, you are talking now just as a XtremeSystems participant Look in the upper left corner for the abbreviation

Well there's "out" and then there's general availability. I'm excited to see 500GB per platter already being demo'd, but I'll be more happy when I see it available in the general retail channels.

I remember last year when Samsung's 334GB platter drives were said to be 'shipping'. The first terabyte drives didn't show up for another six months, and the lower capacities weren't available in the US for nearly a year after the initial press release. In the mean time, WD released their own drives at a comparable platter density, though with less pre-release hype.

I'm not impressed with the STR and random access time values in that HD Tune screenshot. If production drives do not see an improvement, I'll probably skip that series altogether. I'm looking forward to WD's next products based on 500GB platters.

Just a brief summary of death and rebirth of 5400rpm desktop drives:
Reviving 5400rpm was radical. Before GreenPower the last big 5400-revver was ML16 300GB by Maxtor but it suffered from ball-bearings and otherwise old-tech. Other manufacturers also had 5400rpm drives but only for value line. Didn't Seagate have one? And Samsung had V-series along with P-series. These value lines were only available in low capacities and their availability in retail was non-existent (they were aimed at OEMs who wanted to save that extra 1 cent)... 300GB Maxtor was the only exception at this as it was Maxtors attempt to reach highest capacity at it's era. After that, Maxtor adopted fluid dynamic bearings to 5400rpm model and started using state of art platters (160GB instead of 66GB). These newer received any hype. I'm not sure if it was publicly announced anywhere. They weren't even available through retail channels. And only the 1-platter variant came available to few stores, the promised 2-platter 320-gigger never did. Maxtor got bought by Seagate, Seagate killed all Maxtor-designed product lines. At this point, I considered 5400rpm dead and I was sad about it.

When all hope was lost, WD did the unthinkable. And now even Samsung has revived it's V-series by naming them F2 EcoGreen. Well, not much to do with old V-series which was based on P-series casing (or the other way around) with cast aluminum top cover. F1 is a decendant of T-series, and so is F2 (most likely). I haven't even seen the F1 EcoGreen. It never received any hype and I came to know of it when F2 EcoGreen was paper launched on some French site. The 5400rpm models easy get ignored ...luckily F2 is the first paper launched 500GB/platter drive, and probably made many people aware of Samsungs 5400rpm line.

I hope the F2 hype will make F1 EcoGreen more easily available.

___

That was something I wrote to another topic but it got a bit derailed...

Anyway, aside from HD502HI (single platter, 500GB), has any upscales of F2 EcoGreen like 1000 or 1500 been speculated? Is this the P/V series cast aluminum casing (which can hold up to 2 platters)? Is this the modern T/F1-series casing (up to 3)? Or is this ultra-slimline PL-series casing (for only one platter)?

F1 EcoGreen is up to 1TB with 333GB/platter, thus T-series type construction.

EDIT: if the datasheet is to be trusted, height is 2.6cm, just above an inch. That corresponds to "low-profile", i.e regular HDD size (slimline is "ultralow-profile"... though sometimes low-profile is called slimline as well). It's only because full height is the size of two CD-drive bays, half height is the size of one CD-drive bay, low-profile is thinner than CD-drive (normal HDD), etc. It's all because of archaic size categories from 20...30 years in history.

Ultralow-profile HDD (such as PL40 or DiamondMax is approx. 1.8cm in height.

Yes and no. I'm looking for silent hardware beside the performance. And Samsung hard drives are silent even at 7200 rpm.

I don't think this is an unreasonable expectation. It is, unfortunately, shot down many times in the forums. Don't be foisted into accepting other persons' choices where it may end up being unsatisfory for you.

While I don't think any HDD is 'silent' (some noise is always present even after soft mounting and damping--depends on whether you can hear it over other noise, or go looking for the noise), I would choose a 7200 drive if it was equally as quiet as a 5400 one but with a distinct improvement in performance. Many users on these forums have complained that the WD GP's seek noise is quite audible, even though it is a slower spindle speed drive.

If you are moving lots of data, run a DAW, or do full system backups, a higher performance drive to me is preferable to a slower one. However, if you are running an automated system, 24/7 machine, or HTPC, then performance and speed matters not as much since you are not physically there waiting for it to finish. The lower power use of a 5400 may also be regarded as a benefit in these situations. I only need to do manual backups and do so while I am physically at my computer, where a quiet/good performing 7200 drive like WD6400AAKS gets the job done quickly, and lets me shut down and do something else with my day.

Having said that, I recently bought a Samsung 1 platter 2.5" drive to test as a system drive for my new computer. Being in a hot ambient environment, I saw the advantage of using a low power, low heat drive, as I care about HDD temperatures as well as power consumption.

As for Samsung's Ecogreen 500GB platter drives, I think it is a welcome move on their part and for the market also. WD GP needs some competition--they shouldn't have the cake all to themselves.

Samsung HDD retail availability is okay where I live. Some models are often on a backorder basis. Prices are usually the best value. WD GP drives are stupidly expensive here, unless you managed to grab a bargain from a store willing to make 5 cents per drive profit or a loss in some cases.

From my own experience, Samsung drives are better made and packaged to the consumer than a WD equivalent. Samsung drives are mostly made in their own country, Korea, whereas WD outsources to Thailand and Malaysia for manufacturing. (I'd definitely go for a Made in Malaysia drive over a Thailand one if I had the choice.) Samsung pack it in a clamshell package with manual and screws for the average user, while WD pack it in a standard anti-static bag only. This does not make a difference to the experienced user, but for the average one, it shows a lot more thought for them on Samsung's part.

Availability varies greatly. Here in Finland GP drives have been cheap, even cheaper than F1. (Even though F1 is much cheaper than Seagates and Hitachis or 7200rpm WDs.)

Then it comes to Samsung's Ecogreen, I wasn't even aware of Ecogreen F1 until all the fuzz about Ecogreen F2's high density platters. I started looking for F1 Ecogreen and I didn't find a single retailer for F1 EG in whole country. Greenpower remains the only 5400rpm drive on the local market (incl. Finnish e-tailers).

I hope the hype of F2 Ecogreen's high density will make F1 and F2 EGs more easily available so that WD wouldn't be the only choice for near-silent highcapacity/low-cost storage (i.e outruling 2.5" storage and SSDs). Though, even without possibility to obtain Ecogreens, I'm fairly happy that at least Greenpowers are available. A year ago I could have only dreamed of anything spinning at 5400rpm.

I don't know what the difference between the models is - all look to have same spin speed and 32MB cache, for example.

Just a guess here, all of these will have 5400rpm spin speed because Samsung have a technological problem reading high-density 500GB platters with enough consistent reliability at 7200rpm?

Of course, data density is so high that spin speed does not hugely matter if this is used as a media drive (or for near-line storage), although it makes a big difference to seek speeds so I would not use this for an OS partition.

Ideal storage, for speed and silence:
1GB or more ramdrive, for swap file and temp folders
240GB solid state drive for boot, OS and installed programs
one or more 1TB Samsung F2 for bulk storage?

Now I finally got a block for my 3870 ati card and running a zalman reserator setup on gpu/cpu. hm. I have an S-flex mid speed 120fan on rear, a passive antec psu. nothing else moves. its not being picky but I can tell that a very annoying sound eminates from a humming hd. I have a samsung 320gb drive that was recommended at the time. Its on rubber grommets, but the vibrations still transmit. it's really annoying. I am considering a raptor, but its kinda expensive at 300gb's.

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